Heart of Gold
by x.SodeNoZangetsu.x
Summary: James finds Jessie in a predicament niether saw coming.


**This happened in a dream I had over Thanksgiving break, so I just had to make it into a story. It's just a oneshot, but hopefully it will be enjoyed just like a regular story would be.**

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned anything in Pokèmon, let's just say the TV show would be much different (ex. More Rocketshipping, keeping Misty, and keeping the old voice actors).**

* * *

Heart of Gold

"James, I'm gonna go out for a bit tonight."

James glanced up from some blueprints he was scanning. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Yeah, we's got no money. Ya can't be goin' shopping," Meowth added in.

"I know," Jessie replied. "I just need some fresh air. Get away from this work atmosphere, you know?"

Meowth shrugged. "Whatever. Have fun."

"Be careful, Jessie," James told her as she walked out the front door of their cabin.

The sound of their jeep soon died down as Jessie drove away from the cabin. James sighed and went back to the blueprints.

"Wat'cha wanna do tonight, Jim? Jessie ain't around ta boss us around. We've gots a night all to ourselves!" Meowth said not a second later.

"I don't know, Meowth. There's nothing much to do around here in this tiny little cabin," James answered him without looking up.

Meowth huffed. "I ain't talking about _here_! Dere's a city close by. Dere's gonna be plenty ta do dere!"

"Jessie took the jeep," James said back nonchalantly, still not looking up.

Meowth grabbed the blueprints from James to get his attention.

"What?"

"She didn't take da balloon," he said with a toothy grin. "Go put some real clothes on and we's can have us a good time while Jessie's out doin' whatever."

"Fine, if it'll get you out of my hair," James mumbled.

He got up from the couch - the only piece of furniture in the main room - and walked to the bedroom he and Jessie shared. Meowth followed him in and hopped on James' bed.

"Any suggestions on what I should wear?" James asked Meowth since he seemed to be the boss tonight.

Meowth waved a paw and said, "Pick whatever ya feel like wearin'. We ain't gonna do anyting fancy."

With that said, James grabbed a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans that had holes in the knees from all the wear. He walked into the bathroom and began to change. He would've put on better clothes, but being in Team Rocket meant a low pay. And being failing Rockets meant an even lower pay. Nothing James owned was fancy. In fact, the fanciest thing he owned was one white dress shirt and a pair of black slacks. And he only owned those because it was part of a disguise he and Jessie tried using once.

James walked out of the bathroom and found Meowth filing his nails on his bed. James threw his uniform at the cat.

"I'm ready," he grumbled. "Where are you taking me?"

Meowth threw the uniform off of him and jumped down in front of James' feet.  
"First off, I gotta ask: Wat da hell is wrong wit you? Dis whole night youse been actin' like dis. Anyting boddering you?"

James sighed and replied, "It's nothing. I'm just… depressed from our failure today."

"Well den, a good night out on da town's just what ya need!" Meowth replied. "I'll go fire up da balloon and youse be out in front in five minutes."

James gave him a sarcastic salute and watched as Meowth left the room. James then plopped down on the bed.

He really didn't feel like going anywhere tonight. And something really was worrying him.

Jessie.

She had been acting strange - fidgety, James would describe it as - for two weeks now. A couple nights a week she would leave and not come back until late. And, each night she went out, she came up with some excuse to leave whenever James asked her where she was going. She had never told him and that worried him.

Was it something he did? Jessie really hadn't been speaking much to James ever since she began these usual "outings".

Figuring Meowth was going to get mad if he didn't hurry outside. James got up off the bed, grabbed his watch and pokèballs and went outside. Meowth was waiting in the balloon, all ready to go.

James hopped in the balloon and Meowth pulled on the chord to let fire into the chimney. In minutes, they were sailing towards the closest city.

---

Well, so much for a "night out on the town". Meowth had landed the balloon on the outskirts of the city since everybody knew what a Meowth balloon meant. Once they entered the city, he told James he had some business to take care of and he'd meet him in front of a bar called "Drunkies" – James had chuckled at the name – in twenty minutes.

That was and hour ago.

James had waited in front of Drunkies for fifteen minutes before realizing the cat had ditched him. Now, James was aimlessly wandering around the city, hands stuffed in pockets, all the while cussing the cat out with as many cuss words James knew – which was only three.

James sighed and mumbled, "I wonder what Jessie's doing right now?"

---

Little did James know that Jessie wasn't that far away from him. She was inside a tiny restaurant about two blocks away. The only problem was: she was with another guy.

"So," the guy asked, leaning across the table, "how'd you manage to sneak out tonight?"

"Oh, I made up an excuse that I needed fresh air after our mission today," Jessie told him.

"Nice thinking. So, did you tell them a certain time you'd get back?" he asked, a small smirk crossing his face.

Jessie shook her head and replied, "I don't recall."

The guy smiled and said in a seductive tone, "Great, 'cause I've got something I want to show you."

"Lead the way then," Jessie said back in an equally seductive voice.

The guy grinned and left some money on the table before standing up, taking Jessie's hand and leading her out of the restaurant.

They walked for a while, talking the entire time. When they came to a deserted alley, Jessie began to figure out what was happening.

"Wait a minute, I thought you wanted to show me something?" she said.

"I do," the guy said back. "I just couldn't show you in public."

He then pushed Jessie up against a wall and began making himself all too familiar with her body. Jessie's eyes widened and did the only thing she could.

Scream.

---

James was still wandering aimlessly through the city when he heard a distant shriek come from somewhere. His head immediately snapped up and he looked around him. All the other people in the city were still minding their own business almost like they didn't even hear the scream. That or they were just ignoring it.

When James heard the scream again, he figured he may as well check out what was going on. Heck, he had nothing better to do, why not?

As he got closer, he started to hear voices. James realized they were coming from the alley he was standing by and he gulped. The alley was dark and aside from the voices, dead quiet. Maybe he'd just go try and find Meowth.

That's when he heard another yell and a voice he recognized all to well.

"Get away from me!"

James froze in mid-step and gulped again. He swore that sounded just like Jessie. He could recognize her voice in a crowd of a hundred women that all looked alike.

"Quit it!"

James wasn't sure he wanted to find out if the shouts were coming from Jessie or not, but his feet seemed to be more dominant over his brain at the moment, and he found himself feeling his way down the alley.

He came to a corner and peeked around it. There was one small lamppost that still had some light to it shining down on a guy with red-orange hair and his back turned to James.

"Hey, calm down sweetie," James heard the guy say. "This isn't gonna take but a sec."

"You're right, because you're gonna let go of me right now!"

James felt himself swallow a knot in his throat as he stepped around the corner to see if he could see who had dealt the screams and hopefully confirm it _wasn't_ Jessie.

Of course, with his luck, he noticed an arc of red hair as he rounded the corner.

"Jessie?" James heard himself croak.

Immediately, the guy with orange hair turned around. Jessie tried to make a break for it, but the guy kept one hand tightly around her wrist. When James finally registered what must be going on he gasped.

"James!" Jessie uttered when she realized he was standing there.

"Well now," the guy said, "I guess this the James I hear so much about."

He looked back to Jessie and growled, "I thought you didn't tell him where you were going tonight?"

"I didn't!" Jessie snapped.

"Then… WHY IS HE HERE?!" he spat in her face.

"I'm here, because I heard screaming and came to find out what it was," James answered, and he hoped his voice wasn't shaking.

"Well, now you know. So go along. Scamper away."

James shook his head. "Let go of Jessie."

The guy laughed. "Ha! Well, this is something cute!" he laughed. "Is he your little bodyguard Jess? I think you should find someone more threatening looking. This guy looks like a kid! I wouldn't be surprised if he's gay."

"James isn't gay! And he's not my bodyguard either!" Jessie yelled at the guy.

"I'm her friend and I want to know what's going on!" James added in and was surprised that he was using an almost threatening tone.

The guy smirked and said, "Well, if you really want to know…"

The guy pressed his lips against Jessie's as he pushed her up against the wall again. He held her arms back with one hand and ran his other hand along her body. Jessie squirmed to try and get away but the guy only pushed his body up against her more. James could hear her whimpering.

James stood frozen in shock. Here his friend was practically getting raped right before his eyes and he couldn't move a muscle. He didn't want to get involved because he knew it'd end in a bloody fight. And he wasn't the best fighter in the world. But, if he just stood there and watched, Jessie would get raped.

When the guy reached for the zipper of Jessie's pants, James had his mind made up.

In one swift movement, he charged at the guy and punched him right across the jaw. The guy immediately reeled back and rubbed his jaw a bit before glaring daggers at James who was now standing in front of Jessie with his arms spread out wide.

"Not a bad hit, but I suggest you run now, unless you want to see some real punching," the guy remarked.

James shook his head and remained protectively in front of Jessie.

"James, what are you doing?" Jessie whispered from behind him. "You can't beat this guy. Blake's too tough."

"I know, but I can try," he said.

"I don't want to see you get hurt," Jessie told him.

"Me neither, but I'd rather get hurt than seeing you go thorough anymore of this."

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" Blake cooed. "Prince Charming comes to the rescue. Too bad. In this fairytale, the dragon's too tough to beat. And I'm the dragon, so get ready Prince Charming!"

Before James knew what hit him, he was lying on the ground, rubbing a now incredibly sore jaw. He looked up just in time to see Blake plunge his fist into James' stomach. James let out a wheeze and doubled over.

"Is that all the hero's got? This sure isn't like any fairytale I've ever read. The hero's never this wimpy!" Blake taunted.

"That's because the hero usually faces off against a dragon with a sword, but this time, the hero's facing off with an oversized gorilla with his bare hands," James breathed out.

Why did he just say that?! Now he _knew_ he was going to get his ass kicked!

Blake let out a growl that sounded like it came from a bear in the middle of its hibernation.

"You'll die for that one!" he yelled.

He came charging at James again.

"James, do something!" Jessie hollered to him.

James stood up and barely managed to evade Blake's next punch. Thinking fast, James tackled Blake to the ground and began punching him with all his strength. Blake then flipped them both over and the tables turned. Now Blake was the one delivering blows to James.

All James could see was fist after fist after fist flying at him and coming in contact with his face. He felt his face going numb with pain and soon he could barely keep his eyes open.

"Don't give up James!" he heard Jessie call.

James then knew he couldn't just give in. He was fighting for Jessie! If he didn't win who knows what could happen! With his last ounce of strength, James pushed himself up and flipped Blake back onto his back. The table's had turned again.

From Jessie's point of view, all she could comprehend was there was a nasty brawl going on and James was right in the center of it. She wanted to come to James' aide, but just as James had been minutes before, she was frozen to the spot. Her brain was telling her one thing, but her feet weren't listening.

She continued to watch the fight – which was now just a dust cloud and the occasional foot or arm – and cringed whenever she heard James cry out. Not moments later, Jessie saw Blake's foot kick out of the dust cloud and James on the wrong side of the foot. Blake had landed a kick right to James' chest. James went flying towards the wall and crashed into it with incredible force. He slid down the wall and lay there in a crumpled, unmoving heap.

Jessie gasped and ran over to him. Of course her feet would choose to work when it was too late! She got to James and got on her knees beside him.

Jessie almost shed tears at the sight of her best friend. His right eye was turning a revolting looking purple and his left one didn't look much better. His nose was bleeding profusely and his lip was cut and bleeding down his chin. He had a large scratch on his left cheek that was running blood down his face, plus many other smaller ones. The black shirt he had been wearing was torn at the collar and one sleeve was completely ripped off. It was then Jessie noticed the bruises that were beginning to show around his neck as well as the nail marks that had been dug into his neck. Blake had tried to strangle him.

"James… why…?" she couldn't even put a complete sentence together without choking up.

"Looks like the hero failed to protect the princess in this fairytale," Jessie heard Blake say from behind her.

Just the sound of his voice sent a wave of anger coursing through her body. She stood up in front of the defeated James and faced Blake. Blake noticed her tears and grinned.

"Awwww… did I make the widdle princess cry?" he cooed in a mocking manner.

Jessie brushed her eyes away and glared at Blake.

"I can't believe you'd do that! And to think I thought you were some decent guy who wasn't just after my body! I thought you actually cared for me as a person. You kept the act up well for a while, but now I see how wrong I really was. You're nothing but a sick bastard. Just like all the rest of them."

Blake's grin changed to a smirk as he took a step closer to Jessie. Jessie held her ground and balled her fists; ready to deliver a blow if it came to that.

As Blake approached, Jessie started to notice that James had actually managed to hurt Blake a bit. One of his eyes was black just like James', his nose was bleeding a little, and he had millions of scratches and bruises covering his face. Jessie also noticed that every now and then he'd clutch his shoulder as if it was hurting him in some way.

"Aw, c'mon hot stuff. You're not saying what I think you're saying are you?" he asked.

"If you think I'm saying 'get away from me before I call the cops', you hit the nail on the head," Jessie said.

Blake narrowed his eyes. "Better watch what you say cutie," he said. "Prince Charming's not here to try and protect you anymore."

Jessie glanced back at her fallen friend before saying, "I don't need anyone to protect me."

"Really?" Blake said in mock shock. "Let's see what you've got then toots."

"Have it your way!"

WHAM!

THUD.

Blake had fallen to the ground completely knocked out. Jessie had just delivered a powerful hook kick to the side of Blake's head. The young man now lay on the ground completely K.O'd.

Once Jessie was confident that Blake would stay out cold for a while, she bent down beside James again to try and wake him up.

"James. James, get up," she said, shaking him lightly.

He didn't stir.

"Damnit James wake up!" she repeated with a bit more force.

When all she got was silence again, she put her head to his chest to try and hear him breathing.

All she got was silence.

"Dear God, no!" Jessie whispered.

Jessie panicked. The first thing that came to her mind was to call for help. But call who? She had no idea what city she was in, let alone any of its inhabitants. Jessie then felt in her pockets and was relieved to feel a slight bulge. She quickly pulled it out to reveal her cell phone she was issued upon joining Team Rocket. She fumbled with the numbers until they appeared on the lit screen in front of her before pressing the call button.

"Hello?"

"Mondo! Thank God you answered!" Jessie sighed, relieved to hear the young boy's voice on the other end. "Where are you? What are you doing?"

"I'm at HQ, and I'm delivering something to the boss. Why? What's going on Miss Jessie?" Mondo answered.

"James is hurt and he isn't breathing!" she yelled frantically into the phone. "I have no clue where I am and I don't know what to do!"

"James is hurt?" Mondo repeated. "Where are you?"

"I-I don't know. We're in some alley in this big city."

"Well," Mondo even sounded worried now. "Can you give me a name of a business there?"

"Um…" Jessie tried to recall the restaurant she had just been at with Blake. "Um… There's a restaurant called Serena here. Does that help any?"

"Yeah!" Mondo yelled. "You're in Verona City! I know where that is!"

Jessie let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Great. How soon can you be here?"

"Give me half an hour Miss Jessie. I'll come as quick as I can," Mondo said.

"Thank you so much Mondo. W-What should I do until then? I can't get James to breathe or wake up!"

"Well…" Mondo blushed on the other side of the line. "Have you tried CPR?"

"Huh?"

"You know… mouth to mouth?"

Now Jessie blushed. "Oh that," she responded. "No, I haven't. I'll try it though. Thanks Mondo."

"Don't mention it Miss Jessie. I'm in the jeep and already on my way." With that the line was disconnected.

Jessie pocketed her phone and then looked back at James. She checked to see if he was breathing and he still wasn't. Figuring it was the only thing she could do to help keep her friend alive, Jessie prepared to give James CPR.

First, she decided to send one of her Pokèmon to wait for Mondo. There were plenty of alleys in this city and Jessie didn't want Mondo to have to search every single one to find her. He'd most likely get mugged trying.

"Seviper, I choose you," she called.

Seviper materialized from its pokèball and gave its owner a low hiss to show it was ready to obey any command.

"Go wait for Mondo outside the alley. When he arrives lead him back here okay?" Jessie ordered it.

"Seviperrrrr!" it hissed before slithering away.

Jessie then got back to the main problem at hand: get James to breathe again.

Jessie laid James flat on his back first. After remembering what she had learned in nursing school, she bent down over James.

Her face grew hot as she pressed her lips against James' and breathed air hopefully to his lungs. She lifted her head and pushed gentley on his chest. After waiting three seconds, she checked to hear if he had started breathing. He still wasn't. She'd have to do it again.

Thankful no one was watching her, Jessie bent back over to try again. This time when she listened for his breathing, she was thrilled to feel his chest move up and down in a slow rhythm.

Jessie was so overwhelmed that he had started breathing she totally dismissed the thought of trying to wake him up again. Instead, she pulled him closer to her and started rocking back and forth, hoping this would all be over soon and things would go back to normal.

However the night was far from over.

---

"Seviper!"

Jessie looked up and saw Seviper come around the corner with Mondo right on its tail.

"I'm here Miss Jessie!" Mondo yelled as he rushed to her aide.

He came to a halt however when he noticed James' condition. He also stared at Blake's body for a while.

"Wait, if James was the one who got hurt. That means he lost right?" Mondo asked. "Then why…?

"That was my work," Jessie replied, referring to the kick she had dealt to Blake.

"Oh."

Mondo shook his head before focusing back to James.

"Did you get him breathing?"

"Yeah, but he's still unconscious. He won't respond to anything," Jessie explained to him.

"Jessie!"

Jessie looked up to find Meowth charging at her his eyes brimmed with tears.

"Meowth, I told you to wait in the jeep!" Mondo scolded the cat.

"I had to find out wat happened!" Meowth snapped. "Is Jimmy okay?"

"I don't know Meowth," was Jessie's only answer.

"I'm sorry Jess, it's all my fault! I shouldn't have forced Jimmy to come to da city wit me! It's all my fault!" Meowth wailed.

"Meowth calm down. No one's blaming this on you," Jessie told him, annoyed with his apologies.

"We better get James somewhere he can heal. Is your cabin nearby?" Mondo asked.

"It's not too far away," Jessie muttered. "A couple miles or so."

"I'll take James in my jeep and you and Meowth can lead me in your jeep," Mondo told them.

"How'd you know our jeep was here?" Jessie asked.

"A jeep isn't too hard to spot when it has a large red R painted on both sides, Miss Jessie," Mondo said with a smile.

"Oh, right."

---

The first thing that James noticed when he woke up was that he felt numb all over and even the slightest movement made him want to scream out in pain. The next thing he noticed was someone humming a tune and the sound of footsteps close by to him.  
James soon saw he was lying on his bed back in their cabin. The fight with that Blake character came flooding back to James' memory and all he wanted was to see Jessie and make sure he was okay.

He let out a groan as he tried to shift under the bed sheets into a sitting position somewhat. His groan caught the attention of the other person in the room at the time.

"Oh, James! You've awakened!"

James could barely make out Mondo smiling at him thanks to his badly swollen right eye.

"Mondo," James grunted, as if he was repeating his name so it would keep in his memory. "Where's Jessie?"

"Oh, right. I suppose you want to make sure she's okay," Mondo replied. "I'll go get her. She's been so worried about you."

There was silence when Mondo left but it was soon replaced with the thudding that got louder every second. James saw a flash of red before he felt arms being wrapped around his neck.

"Oh James, thank God you're okay!" Jessie's voice echoed through his ears.

"Jessie… ow…" he managed to breathe out.

Jessie immediately let go of him. She quickly apologized before saying, "I was wondering when you were going to wake up. You've been out for 36 hours."

"I have?"

Jessie nodded her head in response. "The doctor said you had a concussion, two broken ribs, and a black eye that you've probably already noticed."

"The doctor was here? When?" James asked.

"Mondo called him the second we got you back here," she answered.

She fell silent for a while and just gazed at James. He noticed her eyes slowly filling with tears and slowly reached for her hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Jessie quickly wiped her eyes and cursed at herself for suddenly becoming so emotional, and in front of James of all people.

"It's just… I was so scared," Jessie whispered.

James stayed silent to let Jessie continue. He knew Jessie wasn't one to scare easily and would usually never open up to anyone at all. This was a big step for her.

"First off: I want to know what the hell possessed you to fight for me like you did," she demanded at him, sounding slightly angry. "You knew you didn't stand a chance, James!"

"I know," James flinched as he tried to sit up more. "But I wasn't about to stand there and let that guy continue with what he was doing. You don't have any idea how horrifying that was to watch."

"Not as horrifying as watching you getting beaten to a pulp!" she snapped at him.

"I'm sorry, Jessie," he said since he couldn't think of anything else she wanted to hear.

"Sorry isn't good enough, James!" she yelled at him. "I was on the verge of a panic attack when you were kicked against the wall. You weren't breathing at all! I thought you were dead!"

"I wasn't breathing?" he asked, his face paling a bit.

"No, I had to give you mouth to mouth," Jessie muttered.

James blushed. "You did?"

Jessie just nodded and looked away from James to conceal her tears.

"Thank you."

Jessie looked at him from the corner of her eye. It was almost impossible to stay mad at James. Especially when he was as beaten up as he was at the moment. Even through all the bruises and the swollen eye, Jessie could still see the beaming face of a small child staring at her. James always seemed to be in a cheery mood, even when he had just been attacked.

Giving up on trying to keep up the tough girl act, Jessie wrapped her arms around James and, as gentley as she could, hugged him.

"Just promise me one thing," Jessie whispered.

"Anything," James said.

"Don't ever try to fight over me again," she told him in a serious tone although there was a slight smile on her face.

James let out a playful huff and said, "Fine."

Jessie looked up at him and smiled before leaning in and kissing him tenderly on his lips.

"Thanks for trying to protect me though," she told him. "You have no idea how thrilled I was when I saw you were standing in front of me with your arms outstretched. No guy has ever done that for me before."

James smiled and wrapped his arms around Jessie as best he could.

"I'd do anything to protect my best friend in the whole world from any kind of danger," he said back. "Even if it means me getting hurt in the process. As long as you're okay, I'm happy."

Jessie cuddled up against James and said, "Thanks James. I knew the first day that I met you that you'd always care for me. You're not like the other guys who just like girls for their appearance. You truly care about them and their well being." She looked up at him and said, "You have a heart of gold."

James just smiled and enjoyed the feeling of having Jessie being so close to him. This was a new side of Jessie he had never seen before. And he liked it.

"You are okay, right?" he then asked after a while.

Jessie nodded into his side and mumbled, "I am now that I'm here with you."

James grinned like a child and kissed Jessie's head before drifting back to sleep. Jessie soon followed suit and the pair slept the rest of the night away in each others arms.

From outside the bedroom door, Mondo smiled as he heard the end of the two's heartfelt moment. He knew Jessie and James were destined to be together and after last night, he knew destiny had made the right decision.

**Okay, so maybe I went a bit overboard with fluff there at the end and Jessie was probably too OOC, but I couldn't help myself. =P Please review!**


End file.
